The gutting of 131 First Ave. at St. Mark's Place continues.
There's not much left of the single-level structure, which was home for years to Foot Gear Plus.
[Photo by Steven]
[Photo by Steven]
The property had been on the sales market, with a pitch mentioning 4,150 square feet of air rights.
According to a filing that hit public records in November, the property changed hands for $3.85 million. The new owner is an LLC that shares an address with HUBB NYC Properties LLC, a real-estate operating company.
However, workers are now dividing the storefront into three spaces — without any vertical extension. Per the listing at Meridian Retail Leasing:
• Single story commercial building delivered vacant in the East Village.
• Corner property with excellent visibility in highly trafficked location.
• Prime value-add opportunity to establish a retail or food and beverage presence.
The storefront rendering via Meridian Retail Leasing shows the graffiti intact on No. 131's surrounding walls ...
The largest of the three spaces (510 square feet) has a monthly rental ask of $11,000. The smallest (410 square feet) space seeks $9,000.
[Click on image to go big]
As for Foot Gear Plus, Tony Scifo, who opened the shop here in 1980, told this to EVG contributor Stacie Joy last July: "After several years of peaks and valleys in business there were just too many valleys. Companies now sell direct to consumers and once they started offering free shipping it was all over. This is happening everywhere, not just locally. The landlord wanted us to stay. She offered us a fair price and she's been great. We just couldn't make it."
This seems a growing trend, splitting a space into three wildly overpriced teeny storefronts that can only sustain large cash income retail. Here comes trend: a bar, a 99 cent slice and a nail salon.
ReplyDelete410 square feet space seeks $9,000.
ReplyDeleteWhat type of business could succeed at that price? The new owners realize this is not mid-town or Soho right?
510 sq feet for $11,000 ?
ReplyDeleteWhat can you do in such a small space for
that kind of money ?
Completely unrealistic.
Outrageous greed.
I purposely do not buy goods or services from businesses who lease these "testing the limits of commercial rents" locations. I never stepped foot in the Gelato place on A because it is an Icon building. Anyone taking on a space like this is either a chain or a fool who will soon lose everything when economic reality hits back. The real-estate biz is always looking for the new water-level in terms of what the market will withstand. Don't encourage Icon and the others by letting those businesses succeed, it's better to let them stay empty, bring down the "hip cool factor" and make the neighborhood less appealing.
ReplyDeleteThe moment the community lost control of its real estate... the community was condemned to be the pawn of greed. It would lose its personality to the chainstores and REITS. Their business was profit not Gem Spa not the Great Jones
ReplyDeleteDiner not community. Profit has no uniqueness... No personality. It is bland and that blandness with all the chains and clean store fronts that remind you of a mall is what makes it attractive to the new residents and tourists and brings profits to the new world landlords. To those of us who have lived here too long there is just the few reminders of the past.... So... Long Live Gem Spa! Long Live the EV!!
9K a month means you have to average 300 profit a day in a 30-day month just to pay the rent.
ReplyDeleteThat's doable. 'Key is how much can you make above the breakeven?
If the shop spends 10% of its gross sales on rent (that's on the high side for rent), then with a rent of 11K a month it needs to gross over 3K a day in a small space. Not to many businesses can do that.
ReplyDelete